August 24, 2008 11:45 AM
Nauru Wears Silkstreet
Tonight, the Olympic delegations from Ethiopia and Nauru will not be wearing Adidas as they parade through the Bird's Nest for the last time. They will not be wearing Nike. Or Reebok, or Roots, or Polo Ralph Lauren.They'll be wearing Silkstreet.
If you've never heard of that brand, there's a good reason: it's only sold in one place in the entire world.
Silkstreet is an offshoot of the Silk Market, one of Beijing's famous shopping centers that's renowned as the place to haggle for fake DVDs, purses, watches or any number of items. It's a place that's famous not just for plagiarizing brand name goods but for flaunting their forgeries at prices that make Wal Mart seem elitist.
But George Wang (pictured above), general manager of the Silk Market, wanted to change his store's image. He tired of the hassles from the brand names, tired of watching his vendors ignore international property rights.
The answer, as he saw it, was to create a new brand of clothing for the market. In January of this year, Silkstreet was born.
"I think it is very important," he told me in his sixth-floor office last week. "Old Silk Street has a bad name, not a good name. It impressed many foreign friends with its fakes. New Silk Street has an important mission to protect intellectual rights, especially in the Western world."
The new brand includes a line of shoes, ties and even porcelain, all made at factories near Beijing. Wang raves that goods can go from the factory to the Silk Market floor in less than 18 hours.
Wang also believes that the Olympics have given the Silk Market an opportunity to showcase their new product through a partnership with two unlikely countries.
The tiny nation of Nauru -- an island in the South Pacific with a total area of just over eight square miles and a population of less than 14,000 -- has only one Olympian, weightlifter Itte Detenamo. But before leaving for Beijing, one of the members of the Nauru delegation was told that the Silk Market could make tailored suits quickly. So on August 4, Detenamo showed up and asked for a suit for the Opening Ceremonies. The suit was fitted and ready by the next day.
Word got around to Ethiopia, which ordered 60 of the Silk Market's suits for the Closing Ceremonies.
Wang said he's thrilled that Olympians are wearing his merchandise at such a visible event. He believes it will go a long way toward proving that the Silk Market is becoming a place to buy legitimate goods.
Some brand names pay vast sums to sponsor an Olympic team. Wang says that the Ethiopia and Nauru delegations received no such "special action" and even went through the traditional Silk Market process of paying for their merchandise.
"No discounts," he said.
September 23, 2008
1:01 AM
Marek Białas writes:
Greetings from Poland!!
Please!!
Photo + autograph and postcard from Nauru!!!
Thanks
Marek Bialas
ul.ksiecia Witolda 12/19
21-500 Biala Podlaska
Poland